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European Parliament votes for Child Guarantee to banish child poverty

At a vote in the European Parliament this morning the majority of MEPs approved the Socialist and Democrat group proposition to combat child poverty with a child guarantee. With child poverty at shockingly high levels - one in four children in Europe is at risk of poverty and social exclusion – the Party of European Socialists has welcomed the vote.

[Photo: Sergei Stanishev addresses the Socialist and Democrat-organised conference on a European Child Guarantee]

Party of European Socialists’ President Sergei Stanishev reacted: ‘I welcome the vote from the European Parliament today which recognises the gravity of the issue of child poverty and proposes a child guarantee with which to fight it. I am strongly convinced of the child guarantee's relevance to step-up EU efforts to combatting child poverty.

It is unacceptable, and shameful, that babies born in the EU today still risk growing up in poverty. The child guarantee shows our commitment to taking action to change this’

Action taken to tackle child poverty is too little and too disparate to be effective. We need more coordinated action at European and national level to combat the crying situations of distress children face in Europe.